A GOOD AGE: Hingham's John McHugh 'a model citizen'

Tuesday

May 27, 2014 at 12:15 AMMay 27, 2014 at 8:06 AM

For John McHugh, 79, of Hingham, age has been a time of opportunity and growth. An ordained deacon, he volunteers for the town's veterans services department and at the Pat Roche Hospice Home in Hingham and the Old Colony Correctional Center in Bridgewater.

Sue Scheible The Patriot Ledger @sues_ledger

HINGHAM -- John McHugh tells a story from his youth that shows how, with time and maturity, people change and find themselves. At 79, he is sharing the benefits of that transformation with many others.

“This is just my nature,” he said at the town veterans services office in Hingham, where he volunteers two to three days a week. “My focus really is on serving people.”

McHugh, an ordained deacon in the Catholic Church, also visits inmates at Old Colony Correctional Center in Bridgewater and volunteers at the Pat Roche Hospice Home in Hingham.

An engaging man with gentle eyes, McHugh grew up in Bridgewater, graduated from the Cranwell Preparatory School in Lenox in 1953 and went off to Georgetown University.

“After being in boarding school and going to college in Washington with 13 girls schools and an 18-year-old drinking age, I sort of lost some of my priorities,” he said. “I regained them after doing time in the Navy and then came back and finished up at Boston College. I interrupted college to grow up.”

He worked full time at the Gillette Co. in South Boston while studying nights at BC. He said he “missed cum laude by a quarter of a point” when he graduated in 1960. He earned his master’s in business from Columbia University in 1965.

After working in the banking and investment banking fields for some 30 years, he turned his life to full-time service.

He was ordained by the Boston archdiocese as a permanent deacon in 1992, and he served as a deacon at St. Paul’s Church in Hingham and as prison chaplain at Old Colony Correctional Center.

When he and his wife, Ann, moved to Lincoln School Apartments senior housing in Hingham in 2000, he found he qualified for state veterans benefits.

“I think payback is important, so I try to come up here and help out,” he said last week at the town’s veterans services office.

“John is at all our ceremonies, is available at the drop of a hat to help someone, is just a great, giving person,” town Director of Veterans Services Keith Jermyn said.

McHugh’s main focus is making more veterans and their spouses aware of a state program, Chapter 115, that can provide medical and financial assistance.

“I think John feels widows are the forgotten cadre,” Jermyn said. “He has been instrumental in reaching out to them. It has been a life-changer for some people in Hingham and Cohasset.”

About 50 people in the two towns receive Chapter 115 benefits.

McHugh serves on the board at the Lincoln School Apartments and is chaplain of the Hingham Veterans Council.

He and his wife, Ann, and the Rev. Thomas O’Connor from Glastonbury Abbey continue to visit inmates at the Old Colony Correctional Center to offer liturgy and encouragement.

“When we leave the prison, we always say we gained so much more than we gave,” McHugh said. “It’s a blessing.”

McHugh volunteers every Friday and Saturday at the Pat Roche Hospice Home. He welcomes people at the door, helps families feel comfortable and sits with the hospice residents if they request it.

“Some just want someone to listen,” he said. “It’s a very difficult time, so its important to try and comfort them and give them hope and encouragement.”

As a deacon, he brings communion for those who request it.

His wife, whom he calls Annie, is often by his side. The two met on the beach in Scituate when she was 2 and he was 4; their parents summered there. They were married in 1968; their 46th anniversary is this August. They have a son, John Jr. of Weymouth, a daughter, Heidi of South Boston, and three grandchildren.

Age has been a time of opportunity and continued growth.

“It’s just part of my being,” McHugh said. “I was called into ministry by the Holy Spirit and I try to do what I can. I get great enjoyment and pleasure in trying to help and assist. It’s part of being a good citizen.”

Reach Sue Scheible at scheible@ledger.com, 617-786-7044, or The Patriot Ledger, P.O. Box 699159, Quincy 02269-9159. Read her Good Age blog on our website. Follow her on Twitter @ sues_ledger.